Another summer is winding down. And, as normal, so are gas prices. Locally, I’ve seen over a dime per gallon reduction in the past week. So, is now the time to breathe a sigh of relief? If breathing a sigh of relief is all the US of A is going to do, then what about next time?

Next summer, when gas prices shoot up again? (it will certainly be higher than this summer)

This winter, when the cost of heating your home goes through the roof? (pun intended)

The next Mid-East confrontation? (Iran is not going to back down, what are the Vegas odds that they wont come to blows with someone? and when that happens, it WILL affect the price of oil)

Until we have no more money to donate to OPEC?

How long before new nuke plants come online? (oh yeah, the do-nothing Congress has to give the green light first)

How long before solar energy tech is cheap enough so that everyone can afford to put a solar panel on the roof of their house?

How long before 50+ mpg cars are in mainstream production and every American can afford one as easily as a 10 mpg clunker?

Until then, this country needs cheap oil. It may not be available tomorrow, but we can start now. Prepare for it now. Do our homework now. Break ground now.

Drill now. Then we can breathe a sigh of relief. Until then – hold your breath.

Reuters
The new Democratic-led House of Representatives passed legislation on Thursday aimed at “Big Oil” that would roll back some industry tax breaks and force energy companies to pay more drilling royalties, valued at $14 billion over 10 years.

Alright, lets see if my math is correct. If currents estimates are right and the United States consumes 146 billion gallons of gas per year, then the oil companies would only have to sneak in less than one cent per gallon to make up for the loss. We pay slightly more, big oil keeps their profit margin (you don’t really think they’ll give it up do you?) and the congressional Democrats get to strike a Superman pose like they actually did something.

Gas prices. For the past few days, those two words have been enough spike anyone’s blood pressure. And now, everyone is calling for somebody’s head, usually the oil companies. For a while, I was right there on O’Reilly’s “They’re gouging us” bandwagon, but now I’m not so sure. Sure, Exxon/Mobil’s 400 million retirement package to their CEO is about as obscene as it gets, but let’s stretch those numbers out: It is estimated that the United States consumes approximately 400 million gallons per day. So, let’s give that retirement package back to the consumers. That equals one dollar off per gallon for one day. ONE day! How many people would actually notice that?

So, for what else can we hang the oil companies for?

We can’t blame them for the lack of refineries. Environmentalists (spelled: bureaucracy ) have prevented new oil refinery construction in the United States for about 30 years now. Limited refinery production means higher prices when the refineries can’t meet growing demands. Also, thanks to environmentalists, special gasoline blends have been mandated, further slowing down production capability.

We can’t blame them for the lack of exploration and drilling, which would increase our supply. Go hang the bureaucrats.

We can’t blame them for the obscene taxes. The average tax placed on one gallon of gas is 50 cents, with some states over 60 cents. It’s not in your government’s best interest to lower gas prices, is it? 400 million gallons of gas per day multiplied by 50 cents per gallon equals $200,000,000 per day.

We can blame the oil companies, the Republicans, the Democrats, the increased demand here as well as in other countries, but the bottom line is we must blame ourselves as long as we still have a lead foot when we climb behind the wheel and as long as we don’t push for increased capacity for oil and for the development of alternate fuels.